A GIRL WHO LIVES FOUR LIVES

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 258, 7 December 1909, Page 1

A GIRL WHO LIVES FOUR LIVES

J MISS FRANCES UTMAN, UURGLAR, PREACHER, OR POLITICIAN I WHEN NOT NORMAL SIiLK. ; Typical American girl, buccaneer, ! preacher, and politician—all of these are » combined in the strange personality ot EMiss Frances Marie Utman, of Chicago. One day she is the normal, care-free, sport-loving, athletic girl of the period. I The next day a strange overwhelming > desire to turn burglar seizes her. , Again she is possessed of the notion > that she must turn preacher and join | the Salvation Army or some other evani gelistio band. Once more she is the exemplification I of the woman politician. Normally she is the real Frances Marie Utman. Abnormally she is burglar, preacher, of politician, as the case may be. A STUDJT FOR A profound study lor the psychologist is this young woman. She knows iier own nature better than anyone els'e. She has reasoned and studied it all out. She lights against these strange freaks that take possession of tier, and it requires more than ordinary strength of mind to keep herself from becoming the incarnation of the personalities that are a part and a parcel of iier strange nature. Hereditary influence handed down through a long line from generation to generation running back some hundreds of years, Misß Utman believes to be responsible for the hallucinations that are here. "I can't explain it all," she said, with a pathetic little smile. "It is beyond me. I know what I know; I feel What I feel, and I always do not act a» i would like to act. "Now, isn't it perfectly awful to contemplate that to-day I am Francis lit4nan and to-morrow 1 may be a burglar. Understand, I am not a burglar, and X < hope 1 never will be, but there is an undefinable something that taxes hold of me, that changes my whole nature and makes me want to get out and loot somebody or somebody's house. Jsn i that a pleasant thing for a young woman to contemplate?" LIVES THE PAitl'S. , "And when the buccaneering mood 'si upon me I live the part. When iny nature changes and 1 feel that 1 must become a Salvation Army lassie, in reality, I am for the time the Sa.vation Army lassie. And again, when i am possessed of my 'political spirit' 1 am the politician. "I can't explain it. It is useless to try. I only know that there is a something within me that is different from most other folks. 1 have studied myself and learned men have studied me, and there has been no solution to tiie problem that Frances Utman presents to science." -Miss Utman is in tile early twenties. She is bright, attractive, exceptionally well read, a good conversationalist. .She lias delved deep into psychology. sue is the daughter of Simeon Utman, a retired capitalist of California. She has not been a resident of Chicago long; indeed, her strange nature makes it 1111 pcrative that sho have a consum. change of scene. The Utman residence is at 832, Edgccombe-place, on the North Sido. CAN FEEL MOODS Cu.UiNU. "Let me try to make it clear, imstrange nature of mine, as well as J may," continued the young woman, 'j euu tell when the burglar mood is coming on me. It is no good for me to light against it. I know when it is with me, and there is no help for it as far as I have been able to learn, it takes all of my strength of mind to keep myself from acting the part that is my nature «for the time being. "1 am seized with the predatory idea, 1 want to 'burgle.' All my thoughts centre ou tiiis one thing. 1 read about burglaries, 1 lead about kits of tuolts, 1 read the careers of high pirates and men of bold, bad deeds with avidity. "Nurmally I am a quiet girl. II dislike bright colors. 1 dress quietly. Bui when my buccaneering mood is upon me, then I seem to forget all of these things. I deck myself out in gauuj colors, and cannot seem to help it. Wny is it?

"1 had a great-grandfather on my father's side who was a man of deeds. He commanded a privateer 'way back n» 1812. I suppose it is his nature tmu has been transmitted to me somehow. I believe that at times J am the reincarnation of this bold sailorman 01 that stirring time. '"Then 1 had another ancestor, the Row Dr. Wiuthrop Majoribanks. lie died in Boston in 1811. lie was a noted divine in his day. llis sermons were renowned for their strength and their breadth of thought, lie was a man oi intellect, and my psychic guides iniorm me that his inlluence has been transmitted to poor me in some mysterious way. Maybe it has. "I only know that there are times when it is all I can do to keep my,sell from stopping oil* the crowded street' and joining a little band of those earnest, self-sacrificing Salvation Army workers who arc doing such a world ol good in this city and all over the conntry. You cannot realise what this impulse is. I believe that no one save myself can realise it. But it is powerful, impelling, and' gripping. it is n strange thing. And while this religion? side of my nature has possession of me. I am just as much the preacher, the ex-, liortcr, and the worker that I am when I the pirate is within me. ' SALVATION ARMY GAllli. "You would not believe it, turn 1 hai< to confess it, but I have almost a whole i Salvation Army uniform packed away. Once the impulse became so strong that I just had to go and buy one. "I had another ancestor who was the Mayor of Tyburn, and a famous politician he was, too. Reincarnated again fn poor little me, savs the psychologists, is the spirit of that famous politician o, the olden days. And when the politician's' moot! ami the politician's spirit is mine then I am the most ardent suffragette, the most strenuous advocate, the real dyed-in-the-wool •politicin thai can be imagined. I like politics, i think politics, 1 act politics. 1 want to get out and make speeches. 1 want action.''

''And how is it all going to end . What are you going to do'; How do von explahi it all?" These were some of the questions that were asked .Miss L'tman as she sat in her home and talked animatedly. "Don't ask mo. How should 1 know?' was the answer. "Scientists are unable to explain this quadruple nature oi mine. How should 1 be able to do it : 11 only know that I have it and that J live four lives while other people are living one. "1 like myself best when 1 am normal —when I am the real Miss Utinan. But the changes are things' that come, i\o matter how much 1 fight against them. "I am going along doing the best that I can.

"1 am 'going to try not In burgle, nol to join the Salvation Army, and not to become a rampant sufl'ragette. Do von think I will succeed?"

A quizzical little smile Hilled ofer her face as she fired this last interrogatory at the interviewer.

The question remains unanswered. Miss L'tman is indeed a strange study.